So… the opposition party won outright in India yesterday.

Come, I will conceal nothing from you: this is not my field of study.  But this does sound important…

In a historic result, opposition leader Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist party are celebrating a resounding win in India’s elections Friday, after ousting the Congress party that has long dominated politics in the world’s largest democracy.

As of Friday afternoon, the tally kept by India’s NDTV showed Modi’s party, the BJP, winning or leading in 334 districts, compared to 59 for the Congress party. The final tally isn’t yet out, but the BJP has far surpassed the required 272 of 543 total seats.

…I did know that India’s Congress Party has indeed dominated that country’s politics for sixty years, with all the problems that such a situation would imply. I won’t regurgitate Wikipedia at you, not least because I don’t know how accurate any of it is, but I’ll say this: if Barack Obama is smart he’ll have Kerry put together a, heh, Tiger Team over in State that can advise the President how to get in on the ground floor and off on the right foot with the new government*.  It’d be useful.

 

Moe Lane

*…What? It’s good advice. Plus, it’ll take just long enough for the next President – a Republican President, mind you – to reap the benefits.

10 thoughts on “So… the opposition party won outright in India yesterday.”

  1. Maybe we can get a new Ambassador to India who is completely uniquified and has no idea what the BJP is about. That will show India!
    .
    Basicly, BJP is a right-of-center party. They are no more right-wing than our Republican Party. So it stands to reason that relations with India will become strain.

    1. Did Cooper make a Grandpa Simpson reference about 2 minutes into that clip!? “Dah-ah-ah I tied an onion to my belt.”

  2. It IS good advice.

    Is there any reason to think that a) if they did follow that advice, then b) they wouldn’t cock-it up and leave us with yet another angry or estranged ally?

      1. As I recalled it, we were allied with Pakistan because during the cold war, India was pretty chummy with the USSR and a Pakistan (run by a western friendly military government) was a useful check to that.
        –
        Now that India has finally woken up as an economic power and has largely embraced the west, Pakistan is less necessary to US interests. Their involvement with Islamic terrorists and on again/off again help hunting them down is certainly not a chip in their favor.
        –
        I expect the WH to take NONE of this information into account, and continue to pursue whatever the dumbest option available is. The color of the sky in their world is pale lavender.

        1. Other than noting that their sky also has rainbow sprinkles, we do not disagree on any points.
          .
          Mew

  3. Considering the revelation that Pakistan’s ISI was playing us during the Afghan war, I think a strategic realignment is in order.
    Because the BJP is right-of-center, that realignment won’t happen under Obama.

    1. Unfortunately true, fortunately for us, the right of center party will still be in power by the time Obama leaves office ( can’t say the same about any other right of center govts, with the exception of Germany and Australia)

  4. I am not an expert but I do believe that the BJP is picking up support because of the policy of the government to ignore the crimes committed by Islamic extremists. Remember, India is the home of Islamic Rage Boy!

    1. There’s one thing to be said about Third World countries: when they see a threat, they usually deal with it directly and brutally.

      India’s government has been too cute by half, and the people are tired of it.

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